Sam Cane says adversity brought Chiefs closer

Photo: Chris McKeen/Stuff.

This week was to be the time the Chiefs sat down for some intense soul searching about how on earth they had produced such a rotten Super Rugby season.

This was a team who were not only winless through the first five rounds of the competition, but whose confidence was shot, such was the nature of their defeats.

A 54-17 hammering by the Brumbies in Canberra and a 57-28 pasting by the Crusaders in Christchurch came either side of a shocking 30-15 home loss to eventual wooden spooners the Sunwolves.

Leaking points, disjointed, directionless. Then came injuries to key weapons Damian McKenzie and Brodie Retallick, all before captain Sam Cane was back from his broken neck.

Bottom of the Kiwi conference and second-last in the overall standings, their campaign was toast.

But what do you know, here they are, an extraordinary turnaround seeing them roar into the playoffs for an eighth-straight year - extending what was already a current record-streak for any team in the competition.

An insane defensive effort to beat the Reds, a stunning comeback to upset the Crusaders, and then a franchise-record-equaling winning margin against the Rebels, and the team is all of a sudden one of the hottest horses running, as they gear up for a quarterfinal against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Saturday morning NZ time.

Ironically, Sam Cane says that awful start to the season, and seemingly extinguished finals hopes, turned out to be beneficial in getting the team into the position they are now, fuelled by a desire to prove people wrong.

"Everyone likes to do that, regardless of what it is," he says of that motivation, prior to boarding the flight to Argentina on Sunday evening.

"Especially when there's been numerous times throughout the year when it was like 'the Chiefs are out of it', or 'they're pretty much done', or 'they're a slim mathematical hope'.

"When people are quick to put the boot in or pick things apart, it could go one of two ways. Our group actually got a wee bit tighter, and it's benefited us at the end.

"To bounce back the way we have, there is a certain level of pride."

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the Chiefs haven't lost since their talismanic openside flanker has started for them, with some of that old mongrel Chiefs defence back, coupled with a sizzling attack which has conjured 99 points and 15 tries in the last two outings.

"Our defence has been pretty good for a wee while, but we've been leaking tries through turning the ball over too easily - that's tough to defend for anyone," Cane says.

"So we've been better at holding onto the ball, and consequently our defence has been better, and we've been scoring more points as well, so hopefully we can continue that.

While their self-belief is now sky rocketing, the Chiefs do go into their quarterfinal with eyes wide open - perhaps not so much literally, as they adjust to the new time zone - ready for a Jaguares team who have won nine of their last 10 games and will be pumped for a first-ever home playoff.

"It's not as bad a trip as people make out now, we've got a direct flight, which is awesome, travelling at a good time - our night time - so we should get a good sleep," Cane says.

"It's certainly a tough place to play, and the way that they've been playing the last few weeks has been seriously impressive. So it's a massive challenge, but one that the group's pretty excited about, we've been building momentum nicely the last couple of weeks."

The Chiefs have taken a 27-man squad to Buenos Aires, with prop Ryan Coxon, hooker Bradley Slater, lock Daymon Leasuasu and winger Ataata Moeakiola the four additional players who didn't feature against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.

Midfielder Alex Nankivell had been nursing a knee injury from the game and had been bracketed with veteran Dwayne Sweeney, but was able to take his place on the plane.

Should the Chiefs win their quarterfinal, they will then travel to face the winner of Saturday night's clash in Canberra between the Brumbies and Sharks.

-Stuff.co.nz/Aaron Goile

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